The Life of a Creative, Healer and Bodyworker

Monthly Archives: February 2015

Last summer, Peter and I took a road trip to South Dakota. I wanted to capture the beauty of Badlands National Park on “film,” so the day after arriving in Wall, SD we got up early to explore this wild country. Shortly after entering the park, we rounded a large sweeping curve in the road and were greeted by a bighorn sheep surveying her domain. She quietly rested here while I photographed her – our reward for getting up early!

A basic and powerful guideline for composition whether in photography or other visual arts, employing the rule of thirds can make the difference between producing a snapshot and an artful shot. I use it all the time and work consciously to frame my photos to take advantage of the rule of thirds. By dividing the frame into thirds in both directions, vertical and horizontal, and placing the main subject on one of those lines, a shot can create a sense of tension or ease.

To take the rule even further, the places where those lines intersect can add even more interest. Called power spots, one can compose the shot so that the entire subject or part of the subject, such as the eyes, fall on one of those intersections. As I scanned my photo files, I found this shot of a French Angel Fish taken on a recent trip to Bonaire. It was one that I had overlooked, but I realized that I had framed the shot with that fish smack-dab in the center of the left lower power spot. This shot was not cropped in any way during post processing – a happy circumstance since they move really fast!

I haven’t posted a flower shot in a long time, and I don’t usually photograph symmetrical subjects symmetrically. But since this daffodil is a symmetrical flower, I decided to share its portrait for the challenge.

I thought it might be fun to pull out my Olloclip this week for the challenge. Here are two shots of a small cactus taken with my iPhone 5s and the Olloclip 4-in-1 lenses. The first is a macro shot and the second a shot using the fisheye lens. Bear in mind that the cactus and pot are only about 6 inches high and 5 inches wide. The mosaic table (which I did several years ago) is 48 inches in diameter. Isn’t it amazing what the right lens can do?